Barack Omania

For those of you living under a rock, this past Tuesday at noon Barack Obama became the 44th president of America and the first black president in history. It surely is a momentous time in our country's history. I really like Obama, however, I did not vote for him. Regardless, I think he has amazing potential and is likely the best candidate to heal the wounds of polarization our country has been victim to during the past decade or so. You may be asking, if you like Barack, why didn't you vote for him? Let me just say that this election was really tough for me for a few reasons.

1. Unlike the past 2 elections, I didn't absolutely abhor the Democratic nominee. I could find hardly anything to dislike about Obama, which made it tough to not vote for him.

2. Traditionally, my family (dad's side, anyway) votes Republican and before you get all mad at me for doing what my dad does, let me explain. We own a small business, we've been in the military, and we're morally and fiscally conservative. This is how I was raised and I still hold tight most (not all, but most) of these viewpoints and traditions. In the 2002 election between Coleman and Wellstone I voted absentee before Wellstone was tragically killed. And I voted for him. When my younger brother (who was too young to vote back then) found out I voted for Wellstone, arguably the most liberal senator in all of Washington, he told my grandmother and she looked at me like she wanted to disown me. When it comes down to it, I respect what she believes in, but I really don't care what she thinks about my voting record. The point is that it's hard for me to vote for the "other guys" because I know what party is best for my loved ones.

3. I don't agree with Obama's stance on abortion. I'm not anti-abortion but I would consider myself pro-life (I don't confine myself to the pro-life/pro-choice definitions the media tries to inflict upon us. It's not black and white). My biggest beef comes with Obama's view that partial birth abortion is a legitimate medial procedure. If you don't know much about PBA, check out this site: http://www.priestsforlife.org/partialbirth.html Don't worry, there are no real photos of dead babies, but there is a long description of the procedure and illustrations (not graphic). Obama has also voted against legislation that would ensure proper care of babies who survived abortions. In other words, if a woman attempts to have an abortion and goes into early labor, Barack believes that baby should not necessarily be given medical attention. There are people who have lived through this kind of thing and are alive today to talk about it. Anyway, I'm starting to sound like a crazy person so I'll move on... but first I want to just say again that I'm not anti-abortion... just anti-partial birth abortion.

4. I really, really, really hate when Hollywood gets involved in politics. I understand that each person has the right and freedom to think whatever he or she wants and to vote for whomever he or she sees fit. But, when Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt try to tell me who to vote for but base their arguments on nothing more than bandwagon propaganda strategies, that's just an insult to my intelligence. For example, I saw a PSA-type commercial with cast members from the shop "Gossip Girl" in which they were pleading to their parents to not vote for John McCain. Are you kidding me? Again, I know we live in a democracy and it's based on free speech and freedom of opinion, but honestly, THEY need to respect the rights of conservatives. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I'm sick of people voting for the left-wingers because Hollywood portrays that as the "cool" thing to do. And now we're just seeing it even more with all the celebs taking part in the inaugural events. If Barack's whole presidency is a red carpet event covered on the E! channel, I am going to move somewhere far, far away. End of story, the Hollywood-effect is very off-putting and makes me want to NOT vote for their candidate. I guess I just don't want to be "cool."

6. My husband likes guns and has lots of guns. I don't really care about gun control too much (well, I CARE about it, but it's usually not a deciding-point for me) but if Jerry is bothered by new gun-control policies and procedures, then I have to live with a crabby husband. No fun!!

At the end of the day, I do like Obama and I truly believe he'll do a good job in office. Oh, and for the record, I wanted Ron Paul to win!!

PS: I really hope I didn't offend anyone with my rants. If I did, please accept my sincerest apologies.

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A Few Chicago Pics...

Here's the giant shiny bean in Millennium Park. It's funny, considering how many times I've been to Chicago I've never actually seen the bean (haha, that rhymes).
Up-close and personal with the bean. It was really weird walking underneath it and looking up because there are about 20 reflections of yourself but you can't really tell what you're looking at. I got a little dizzy and felt like I was tripping on some serious meds!
Here's Jerry with our nephew Nathan (almost 6).
Here's me being attacked by Jason (2) and Nathan (5).
Not a great picture, but Jason was having so much fun playing horsey. Whenever I sat down to take a break he would say (through the paci) "Get up! Get up!" Such a cutie!

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13 Hours in the Car

So. tired. need.... sleep. Will blog.... later.

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Chicago Day 5

We've been here only for 5 full days but I feel as if it's been weeks. For the past 2 nights I've spent the nights with my good friend Katja. We haven't been able to hang out as much as I would have liked but it's still good just to see each other for a bit. I think we're going to try to get Oprah tickets someday!! I'm not really a huge fan of Oprah but it would still be cool to go. Wouldn't it be great it we went on her Favorite Things show?! "Everybody gets a humpback whale!!" (Dane Cook joke, in case you didn't get it.)

Yesterday I got my hair trimmed and the stylist (Tony from Italy) straightened it for me. WOW! I LOVE my new hair!! Of course as soon as it gets wet it will be curly again so that's why I'm never taking a shower ever again (kidding.) It didn't take too long to style straight but I don't think I'd be able to do it well at home. I'll definitely be getting it done like this more often!

After the hair, Susan and I went out to the Northbrook Shopping Center. I got some stuff from Lush (soap place) and Susan got a lot of things from fancy stores like Juicy Couture, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, etc... They all have nice things but I just cannot justify spending 90 bucks on a T-shirt. Are you kidding me? $90 for a shirt? NO WAY! Then we ate at Boston Blackey's. They have really great burgers for a very reasonable price.

Tonight Susan, Josette, Katja and I are going to the Baton Club. I guess it's just a show with lots of hot ladies that you later learn are actually men. I've heard lots of good things about it so hopefully it will live up to its reputation.

In other news, school starts for me on Jan. 13. You may be thinking, "Wait a minute. I thought you were done with school. Why are you going back?" Yes, I am done being a student. I was hired to teach one section of Intro to Media Writing this spring. I pays about the same as teaching 2 sections last semester did... so I need to find another job. Problem is... economy sucks. No one is hiring. SO, I'm trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with my life. Maybe just stay at home and not spend money. Sounds like a plan to me.

So school is starting in a few days and I have yet to write the syllabus (and by "write" I mean revise from last semester to this semester) so I am currently sitting in a little cafe with free internet downstairs from Katja's apartment. My plan is to write this dang syllabus now but I think we all know it's not going to happen until Monday night.

Wish me luck.

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The Mysterious Gold Key

Tonight Jerry, our niece Lauren, and my friend Katja were on our way home from dinner and I was in the back seat of my car trying to clean up a bit (empty pop cans, water bottles, receipts, wrappers, etc...). I looked in the seat pocket on the back of the passenger seat and found something mysterious inside. It was a gold key. A big gold key. I mean this is no average key. The "handle" part is at least 1" x 1" and has the inscription L 21 on it.

This is not my key. I have no clue where it came from or how long it's been there. It's freaking me out. Not really freaking me out, just really making me wish I was a CSI person and had the brains to figure out where it's from. A part of me thinks that this might actually be MY key... but I think I would remember if I had a ginormous key like this. It's not my safety deposit box key, not a work or home key, not the key to my chastity belt--uh I mean my diary... The fact that it says "L 21" on it makes me think it's to something like an apartment or a mailbox or safety deposit box. Who knows?!?!

Chicago has been great so far. We've shopped and dined and entertained. Yesterday Jerry, Susan and I went to the movie Gran Torino. Other than some crappy acting at times (Clint Eastwood was, of course, great), the movie was pretty good. I thought it was supposed to be an action movie but it's actually a kindhearted story about a war veteran who goes through a racially-based change of heart. He lives in a neighborhood that has become a mostly Hmong area in his town and struggles to find any way to relate to these people. I don't want to give away any part of the movie, but it's definitely a tear-jerker that will really make you think about immigrants and refugees differently. I would recommend that everyone see this movie -- even if you wait to rent it.

Today Lauren came into the city and we had lunch and saw Jess from the first season of Rock of Love with Bret Michaels. I've never watched the show but Lauren knew her and got really excited. I guess this Jess lady won the whole thing... but Rock of Love is now in the 3rd season so I guess her love with Bret is over... what a shocker! After lunch we decided to go see some puppies so we went to a place called Pocket Puppies. They specialize in little dogs and little dog accessories. They had about 15 puppies there that were all so tiny and cute! One dog was a teacup chihuahua that was about the size of, well, a teacup. It was so little and cute from a distance but one we got close it was kind of ugly. It's eyes were bulging and on the sides of its head. Ew. They had a bigger chihuahua that we got to play with for a while and was really cute and sweet. But then Jerry started feeling itchy so we had to leave. Next we went to the Anti-Cruelty Society downtown and looked at the dogs and cats. There really weren't a lot of dogs... and I think that's good because maybe it means not a lot of dogs are being abused/neglected/dumped in Chicago? Or maybe they don't have enough funding to keep all the cages full.

Tonight we picked up Katja at her office and ate at the Melting Pot... yummy!! Then on the way to drop Katja off, Jerry ran a red light and got pulled over... scary!! And he got a big ticket... crappy!!

Tomorrow Fred's grandson Steven is coming into town from Boston and is staying in the Hancock condo so we must say goodbye to our sweet diggs here. I'm staying with Katja tomorrow night and Jerry's staying with Joe and Josette (and the kids). Then on Thursday Jerry will start setting up for the show, which starts on Friday.

Anyway, it's late and we've got an early morning tomorrow, so I'm calling this a night. Sleep tight, Internet!

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Heading to Chi-town

Jerry and I are preparing to leave for Chicago today. I was hoping we would have been on the road by 8 a.m. but we didn't even get out of bed until 9:30.... oh well. So right now (11:07 a.m.) Jerry's on the phone and I don't think he has any clothes on so we won't be going anytime soon. Even if he was dressed, we still have a ton of things to do before we depart. We were actually supposed to leave yesterday but we got a lot of snow so we delayed departure a day or so. I'm excited to go to Chicago because I haven't seen the Sondag side of the family for over a year... plus we're staying in the Hancock tower for a few nights before we move into a hotel closer to where Jerry's muskie expo is.

I'd love to write more but there is a ton of stuff for me to do and I'm feeling bad about blogging instead of actually being productive. I suppose my first to-do is to make sure Jerry has clothes on-- and he does!! The day may proceed!

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A New Year!

A Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!!

Since I last blogged I've been thinking about things I need to blog about... and now that I'm actually doing it, I've forgotten what it was I wanted to say. I must be getting old...

Jerry and I had a very nice Christmas. It was quite calm compared to last year's (we spend Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning in the ER after his sister, Susan, got in a car accident-- no worries, just a few bumps and bruises). We had dinner with my family in Moorhead, unwrapped presents, and then waited until the 11 p.m. candlelight ceremony started... well, we attempted to wait. Around 9 p.m. we both got so tired we decided to head home and catch a Christmas morning ceremony instead. This was the first time I was home for Christmas since Jerry and I have been together. Since 2005 we've spent the holiday in Chicago, which is nice, but it's just not home. The first Christmas we spent there we had Christmas Eve dinner at the McDonald's downtown... not exactly what I would consider a "great" Christmas, but it was good being with Jerry and seeing a really big McDonald's store!

For Christmas I got a 16-gallon aquarium that I am really excited to set up (as soon as I find a home for it). At this point, Alison and Brent Olson are sitting in their home in Grand Forks saying, "Oh no, it's the summer of Jen-ocide!!" and I want you to stop! I know why all those fish (and the one frog) died and it won't happen again! .... I hope.... I think I'm going to put some goldfish and either guppies or neon tetras in it. It's going to be so lovely!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful New Year so far-- all two days of it! We had some lake friends over for the evening which was wonderful because two couples brought their kids along so we had Mamie (20 months), Becca (3 months), and Katelyn (9 months) making our home a wonderful place to play! Our friend Matt (I call him Matty) is staying with us for the weekend and he's so fun to have around. He and Jerry have been fishing a lot so far and in the evenings Matty makes me hot chocolate with Bailey's! YUM!

I've been thinking a lot about resolutions for 2009. Normally I don't make resolutions but a few things have really been stressing me out lately and I've decided to take action and make a change. First, I resolve to pay more attention to my finances and create a monthly budget. I am also going to start saving each month. It's so easy to put all my paycheck into my checking account and bypass/ignore the savings account.

I'm also going to take better care of myself. I am back on Weight Watchers and I've been going to the gym on a more regular basis. Speaking of eating well, Jerry, Matt and I are on our way to the Fireside to have dinner with Mo. So, I need to say goodbye.

Oh, one final note, another resolution I have is to blog more often! So hopefully you'll be able to read more from me this year. Love, Jen

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